BIRD GUIDE
PART 1
Water Birds, Game Birds and Birds of Prey
DIVING BIRDS—Order Pygopodes
GREBES—Family Colymbidæ
WESTERN GREBE
1. Æchmophorus occidentalis. 25 to 29 inches.
All grebes have lobate-webbed feet, that is each toe has its individual web, being joined to its fellow only for a short distance at the base.
This, the largest of our grebes, is frequently known as the “Swan Grebe” because of its extremely long, thin neck. In summer the back of the neck is black, but in winter it is gray like the back.
Notes.—Loud, quavering and cackling.
Nest.—A floating mass of decayed rushes, sometimes attached to upright stalks. The 2 to 5 eggs are pale, bluish white, usually stained (2.40 × 1.55). They breed in colonies.
Range.—Western North America, from the Dakotas and Manitoba to the Pacific, and north to southern Alaska. Winters in the Pacific coast states and Mexico.
